If a mud run isn’t on your bucket list, you might want to consider it. Along with tractor pulls and cook-offs the annual run of trucks large and small through a course of, well yes, mud is a big deal in Northern Michigan. We were fortunate enough to be here this year in time for the Boyne Falls Annual Mud Run, where amateurs and pros alike took their straight up SUVs, pick-ups, and highly modified terrain warrior vehicles through a quarter mile of wheel deep mud—provided courtesy of the local fire departments’ hydrants and volunteers…

Of course many of them didn’t make it, so the local backhoes were kept busy not just repairing the track but towing vehicles back out of the mud.

For the uninitiated the ranking system is pretty simple. The trucks are divided into classes by tire size. 33” (tire height) and under in one class, and the 34” plus into another. Many of the vehicles swapped wheels and appeared in both categories.

Besides grippy tires that didn’t fill their treads with mud, plenty of torque was needed to bust loose when sinking, and the drivers needed steely nerves to slalom the trucks through the turns to get the best time without flipping or stalling (only one truck actually flipped, although several others came close).

The mud run wasn’t as trendy as NASCAR, but it wasn’t as expensive either. $5 got you in, and better yet $5 got you a full lunch of Polish sausage, drink and chips. The chips alone would cost that at Daytona.

We were the outsiders in the audience—although plenty of fans explained the nuances of the sport to us. Most of the folks there had been to ten or twenty of these before and of course lots of the local residents were racing their own race trucks or even family SUVs. (The fire department was there with a hose to do their best to get the mud off the trucks when they finished).

The event lacked the awe inspiring appearance of Gravedigger or the other famous beasts of monster truck fame but made up for it in local color. Free T-Shirts were blasted onto the crowd from an air launcher and kids who were over-heating got a welcome blast from the fire department’s hose. And team sponsors had endearing names like “Jim’s Plumbing,” “My Wife,” and “My Back Pocket,” although Budweiser did have a truck in the race. Wisely it didn’t do well enough to take the $180 first prize away from any of the locals.

If watching a mud run doesn’t make you want to get a monster truck of your own and head for the nearest stream bed, nothing will.